I am considering brewing up a cider recipe for SWMBO, however she is not a big fan of that dryness offten associated with something 100% fermentable like apple juice.(correct me if I'm wrong) I have heard of back sweetening with lactose, or splenda, but don't know how the process works. When do you ad your unfermentable's like lactose, or whatever else you would use, and are there other options as far as unfermentable sugars?

Cider is different than beer, in that the yeast will always eat through all the available sugars, so the cider will go to dry, as you know. But that also impacts the issue of whether the cider is sparkling or still, and if sparkling, will you be using force carbonation or bottle conditioning.

If you want to do a semi-sweet sparkling cider in the bottle, I'd suggest you look at two places. First, www.makinghardcider.com is a great resource for new cider makers. She gives great instructions for backsweetening with xylitol and also adding some natural apple flavoring.

If you are doing a still cider, then its much easier. I recently made a nice pomegranate apple cider, still, semi-dry and corked in wine bottles. I used a backsweetening method - let the cider ferment dry, stop the yeast with additives, and backsweeten with 100% pomegranate juice.